Some big, late, breaking news: the head of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, has resigned unexpectedly.

Kim will stand down by 1 February – an abrupt departure, before the before the expiry of his term in 2022.

My colleague Phillip Inman explains:

The Washington-based organisation is one of the largest donors to developing world countries and while many of its policies have proved controversial. It has been behind huge infrastructure projects across Asia, Africa and south America.

Kim’s decision to quit for the private sector was described by sources close to the bank as a “personal decision”.

The long-awaited US slowdown is finally appearing in the data and markets are convinced the Fed’s hiking cycle is over. But with all the doom and gloom in the markets, it is easy to get carried away and fall into the ‘recession’ and ‘rate cutting’ camp. With the recent acceleration seen in real wages, markets may be over-reacting both with respect to near-term growth prospects and the Fed’s reaction function.

Brompton Bicycles, famous for their commuter-friendly folding models, are also stockpiling for Brexit.

Brompton has built up a £1m inventory of bike parts including wheel rims, spokes and steel, to prevent disruption from a hard Brexit.

My colleague Sarah Butler explains:

The foldable bike maker, which increased sales by 11% to £36.1m in the year to March 2018, has rented a warehouse near Heathrow to store an extra month’s worth of supplies in case imports of key items are held up by problems at ports if no deal is reached with the EU in the coming months.

“Taking storage [has cost us] £50,000 but the implications of running out [of parts] could be £50,000 in a few days,” said Will Butler-Adams, the chief executive of the bike maker.

“It’s irresponsible to leave these businesses in the lurch by threatening to crash out of the EU with only 12 weeks to go before 29 March. Over the last two years, the automotive industry has been consistently unequivocal about the risks of no deal and the harm it could do to people’s livelihoods and company profits. The Prime Minister has simply ignored these warnings.

“Theresa May should have ended the uncertainty months ago by immediately ruling out a no deal scenario to reassure businesses and the public.”

MPs are due to vote on the PM’s withdrawal agreement next week, in the delayed ‘meaningful vote’. Many observers expect a heavy defeat for May, despite her attempts to win more concessions from European leaders.

The latest word is that the EU has pledged to do its best to conclude trade talks with the UK by 2021, avoiding the whole of the UK being forced into a customs union by the Irish Backstop.

Such an intention, however earnest and honest, isn’t a legal guarantee, though, so it may not satisfy sceptical MPs....

Aston Martin triggers Brexit no-deal contingency plans

Luxury UK carmaker Aston Martin has revealed that it has triggered some of its Brexit contingency plans.

This includes flying some parts into the UK, and moving some of its road-based supply chain away from Dover, to avoid disruption caused by a no-deal Brexit.

The company, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire, is also concerned about the lack of clarity around Brexit, with less than three months until the UK’s departure date.

Reuters has the details:

Chief Executive Andy Palmer said the luxury automaker, which was in October considering plans to fly components and move more in through other ports, had no choice but to authorise such contingencies at a board meeting in December.

“I don’t think we’ve been in a position in the last two years where we’ve been further apart from understanding where we’re going to end up,” Palmer told Reuters.

“We programme a car to align and order all the parts for those cars twelve weeks in advance. You don’t need to do the maths to know that therefore takes us across the Brexit period.”

“We have to prepare for the worst case scenario.”

Palmer also warned that Aston Marton’s Brexit plans have added an “accumulating cost”. That will worry investors, who have already seen its share price fall from £19 when it floated last October to just £12 today. More here.